Indecision on National Education Policy leaves Karnataka colleges and students in the lurch

Sudhakar had stated that scrapping the NEP at one go was not on cards, adding that after consulting the school education department, a report on the national policy would be submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who will take the final call.

However, the uncertainty has the student community worried. Shreya Pramod, a final-year BBA student at a private college in Bengaluru, said, “The college has mentioned on its website that the management has implemented the NEP. I don’t know if there will be a fourth year as per NEP norms, especially considering the government’s anti-NEP stand. I have plans to pursue higher education abroad, which requires a minimum 16 years of education. I am actually not sure whether to continue as per NEP norms or sit for placements.”

“I have plans to pursue a fourth year, which means I will be graduating with BBA Honours. This actually will help boost my profile. However, with uncertainty over the Karnataka government’s action, I am really worried about my future,” she added.

Pratham Gowda M, a second-year computer engineering student, said, “We have already adjusted to the NEP model. The college is giving more scope for skill development and our internal marks are being added to external marks, making it easier for us to clear subjects. Our programming classes are now integrated with labs. If the government scraps the NEP, it will only cause anxiety among students.”

Dr Bhargavi Hemmige, head of the department of journalism at Bengaluru’s CMS Jain University, said that politics should not dictate the government’s action. “The state government should first study the policy in detail and not jump to conclusions for political reasons. The government should provide a proper rationale on why they want to scrap the NEP. The policy simply focuses on a multidisciplinary approach, making students industry-ready through upskilling, and boosting research capabilities. If at all the state government wants to scrap the NEP, it has to give us a solution that provides all these features of the NEP,” said Hemmige, also a former syndicate member of Mangalore University.

Meanwhile, Abhaya Diwakar, state treasurer of the All India Democratic Students Organisation, said, “The NEP is against students’ interests. We need to strengthen government educational institutions. After the introduction of the NEP, admission fees in government colleges have been hiked. We had collected over 35 lakh signatures protesting against its implementation.”

In fact, Sudhakar, who held a meeting with all the state university vice-chancellors on Friday, was advised to continue with the NEP. Dr Vidyashankar, vice-chancellor of Belagavi’s Visvesvaraya Technological University, said, “All of us (vice-chancellors) presented our views on the NEP. Largely it was positive. However, there were concerns about some provisions of the NEP which I believe can be solved through right interventions. But we believe scrapping the NEP after two years of implementation will not be practical. Most of us have already implemented different aspects of the NEP in our universities.”

The BJP government in Karnataka was the first in the country to introduce the NEP in higher education, in 2021, after the central government passed the law in 2020. Former school education minister B C Nagesh and former women and child development minister Halappa Achar were preparing to implement it in schools and 20,000 anganwadis, respectively.